The Powers of Europe and Fall of Sebastopol

by A British officer

Summary survey of Europe—Aristocracy of France—France previous to the Revolution—Revolutionary Symptoms—The Great Powers, 1792–6—William Pitt—Execution of Louis XVI.—The Allies against France—Siege of Toulon—Invasion of Holland—Napoleon—His early youth—Thirteenth Vendemiaire—The Campaign in Italy—Rapid victories of Bonaparte—Expedition to Egypt—Return of Bonaparte—First Consulate—The passage of the Alps—Second Campaign in Italy—Napoleon Emperor—War with England—Alliance between the Great Powers, 1805—Indecision of Prussia—Alexander visits the tomb of Frederick the Great—Battle of Austerlitz—Treaty of Tilsit—Secret understanding respecting Turkey—British orders in Council—Battle of Wagram—Annexation of Finland—Campaign of Moscow—The Grand Alliance, 1813—Battle of Leipsic—Allies enter Paris.

“The fate of the East depends upon yon petty town,” was the exclamation of Bonaparte to Murat, as he pointed towards Acre, which even his military genius was unable to subdue. Repeated and desperate assaults proved that the consequence which he attached to the taking of it was as great as the words expressed. The imagination reverts from the position of the army of Egypt before that oriental city, and rapidly traversing the events of succeeding history, runs down to the position of the army of the successor of Bonaparte, and of his English and Turkish allies, who, on nearly the precise parallel of longitude, are unitedly engaged in besieging one of the first strongholds of Europe.

In recounting some of the great events of the times which have filled the world with their grandeur, and whose present and future place in history overshadows the preceding ages, a rapid resumé of the situation of Europe, just previous to and at the commencement of the great drama, may be useful, and serve to recall facts and events which may to the general reader have been known but forgotten.

One who stands amid the gardens and grounds of Versailles, and contemplates the enormous luxury and expenditure of its builder, while he recalls his vast wars, his policy, and his intrigues, can better understand the declaration of Louis XIV. to his assembled parliament. “The State! I am the State!” And such an observer can also discover the truth of that statement, that it was that builder who laid the foundations of the French Revolution with the stones of Versailles. The keen sagacity of the polite Chesterfield could detect that approaching revolution a quarter of a century before it took place; and his remarkable prediction shows how rapidly the signs of the gathering storm must have accumulated in the years succeeding the Augustan age of France. The energies of the nation had been devoted to the service and pleasure of the monarch; they now began to be directed to their proper end, the examination of their own interests. From the theatre and the pulpit the genius of the French people hurried precipitately into morals and politics, a sudden revolution took place in the minds of all, and the conflict it produced lasted during a whole century.

The exclusive privileges of the aristocracy, who monopolised every official position, and who alone were eligible to rank in the army, choked the development of the great body of the people; and while they consumed the revenues of the State they were in a great measure exempt from taxation. Cradled in the luxury of courts, the aristocracy were sunk in vice and effeminacy. And they looked upon the great body of the people as only a necessary appendage to a government in which they had neither right nor control.

In the most martial nation of Europe the private soldier could not, by the greatest daring or genius, elevate himself, because only the aristocracy could obtain rank. The effects of the opposite system were afterwards seen with Napoleon, who boasted that he conquered Europe with the bivouac; with generals raised from the ranks.

The oppressions of the feudal tenure in France exceeded belief; the people were even obliged to grind corn at the landlord’s mill, press their grapes at his press, and bake their bread at his oven on his own terms.

The fermentation which had long been going on in the public mind; “the revolt against eighteen centuries of oppression” began to develop itself rapidly. Yet the monopolizers of all the national rights continued to dispute for a worn out authority. The court, careless and tranquil in the midst of the struggle, were wasting the property of the people while surrounded by the most frightful disorders. When it was told to the effeminate and dissolute Louis XV. that the nation could not suffer much longer, he characteristically said, “Never mind, if it last my time it is sufficient for me!” Such was the eighteenth century.

It was during the years 1787 and ’88, that the French nation first conceived the idea of passing from theory to practice. The weak and vacillating Louis XVI., the least fitted of all men to guide the destinies of a nation in the throes of political convulsion, had successively tried ministry after ministry, and one expedient after the other; yet the ship of state was swiftly approaching the vortex of the whirlpool in which it had entered.

“Upon what trivial events often depend the most important affairs. The mistake of a captain, who bore away instead of forcing his passage to the place of his destination, has prevented the face of the world from being totally changed,” said Napoleon. “Acre,” continued he, “would otherwise have fallen: I would have flown to Damascus and Aleppo; and in the twinkling of an eye, would have been at the Euphrates. I would have reached Constantinople and the Indies, and would have changed the face of the world.” It was thus in the assembly of the Notables, called by the intelligent, brilliant, and careless Calonne, then minister of state, that a member, complaining of the prodigality of the court, demanded a statement of the expenses. Another member, punning on the word, exclaimed, “It is not statements, but States General that we want.” This single random expression struck every one with astonishment, and seized by the people was immediately acted upon; the States General were called, and the public mind was filled with the wildest fermentation: France and Europe were to be immediately regenerated; visionary schemes without number were formed; and that general unhinging of opinions took place, which is the surest prelude of revolution. That revolution now came, and in its tumults and convulsions the Ancient French Monarchy rapidly approached its extinction. Amid frightful disorders, famine appeared; the elements seemed to partake of the savagery of the times; and the severity of the tempests of summer which destroyed the harvests, was succeeded by a winter, 1788–9, of unparalleled rigor. Soon began that vast emigration of the nobility, which was afterwards succeeded by the attempted flight of the king; while all authority but that of the Sans Culottes seemed abolished. Foreign affairs became daily more menacing; the young Emperor, Francis II. of Austria, was gathering his armies, and soon demanded the reëstablishment of the monarchy on its ancient footing. All classes in France now anxiously desired war; the aristocracy hoped to regain their lost privileges with the assistance of Germany; the democracy hoped, amid the tumult of victorious campaigns, to establish their principles.